For every audiovisual adaptation of a novel, there are one hundred “the book is better.” It is evident that the pages always offer us much more information, details and history than any movie or series, although it does not have to detract from one another. Yes indeed, the differences are sometimes too noticeable.
It is the case of The Snow Girlthe new Netflix premiere that transforms the best-selling novel of the same name into a series javier castillo. Knowing that the cast would be made up of Spanish professionals, many did not know how such a New York story would fit with them. The platform quickly found the best solution: moving the action to Malaga.
Changing the parade from Macy’s to that of Reyes, the series has had to adapt names, characters —and accents!— to Malaga, although that has led to other plots that have not been seen in the book. If you want to know some of them, we tell you below, Although we already warned that there are SPOILERS for both the book and the series:
The names
It’s obvious, but except for Look, everyone changes in this new version. In fact, not even Miren is saved: he goes from being called Triggs in the book to Red in the series. Regarding the others, the changes are as follows:
- Aaron and Grace Templeton, Kiera’s parents, become David and Ana.
- Kiera Templeton, renamed Mila by her captors, is Amaya Martín (and Julia, as a new name) in the series.
- Jim Shmoer, a teacher who helps Miren, is in the series Eduardo.
- Detective Benjamin Miller is perhaps the one who undergoes the most change: in the series he is a woman, Belén Millán.
- William and Iris, the couple who kidnaps the little girl, are Alberto and Iris.
time jumps
In the novel, we see three very distant time settings: 1998, 2003 and 2010. In the series, they bring it forward, adjusting more to the present, watching sequences in other years like 2010, 2011 and 2019.
The relationships
Although there are some that show timidly due to the adaptation to the audiovisual language —such as that of Miren with the teacher—, there are others that change radically. For example, in the novel Miren and Aaron Templeton maintain a strong bond over their daughter’s research, something that is not explored in the series.
Also, Aaron is shown to be much more affected in the novel, to the point of falling into alcohol and returning to the parade of Macy’s other years to complain about the police. In the series, Miren is much more lonely.
Kidnapping
It is the most important moment of the book. but it changes completely. In the book, we can see that it is the man who plans to catch a clueless girl or boy on the parade —in fact, he leaves the house with scissors to cut her hair so that they cannot recognize him—; while in the series he is lris, the kidnapping mother. His desperation to have a daughter leads him to that extreme; something that reverses her roles, since in this series it is her husband who hesitates to kidnap a girl.
The crime
In one of the chapters of the book you can see how William’s (Alberto) desire to protect his secret at all costs leads him to murder a neighbor who discovers that they have Kiera. In a most unpleasant scene, the man reveals to her that he knows they cannot have children, and that her widowhood leads him to demand that Iris sleep with him in exchange for not saying a word. This causes William to murder him and bury him in his garden.
In the series, it is very different. He is not a neighbor, but a co-worker who comes to control their mortgage debt; and that he ends up discovering seeing Amaya from afar on one of her unannounced visits. Alberto’s affable personality prevents him from doing anything, but Iris becomes obsessed again and shoots him with a shotgun.
Death
However, it is not the only death in the novel. For a couple of chapters, William sees how Keira doesn’t show him affection, and far from being patient, he acts in the worst possible way: he leaves her car in the middle of a train track and waits for her to hit him. His mission, among others, it was to be able to collect the insurance and that both his wife and the daughter he took from the Templetons live debt-free.
In one of the episodes of the series, Alberto sees suicide as the only solution to his mortgage debt. It’s not because of any bad reaction from Amaya, but because he knows that they will not be able to take care of the house and could expose themselves and be discovered for having kidnapped a girl.
The discovery
In the book, the peak of Miren’s investigation is very intense. She gets the cooperation of the DVD repair shop clerk, and then she goes to the kidnappers’ house and starts asking around. However, she gets the pressure of the moment and ends up talking about the dollhouse that is seen on the videotapes that were sent to her parents, something that makes Iris react and want to run away.
In the series, he has it more difficult, as the store clerk refuses to cooperate and has to steal the address book. Once at home, he fabricates a story about people who live apart from society and begins to see clues: a child’s bicycle, a presence upstairs with the dog… He doesn’t need to talk about the dollhouse. , he knows Amaya is there when he sees that Iris is wearing the same headband as Amaya in the videos.
The escape
In the book, both Iris and her husband are comfortable in their house, although when Miren arrives and makes it clear that she knows the woman is holding Kiera/Mila; she considers running away. She takes the car and leaves one last tape at her biological parents’ house, although the journalist is faster and sneaks into the back seat at gunpoint. She tries to make it clear from her site that Kiera has been kidnapped for years, while she demands that Iris turn herself in to the police. In response, he apologizes to his adoptive daughter and causes a road accident in which she dies and both Miren and Kiera survive.
In the series, the kidnapping couple has been wanting to move out for a long time, and it’s not until Miren arrives and acts strangely that Iris decides to drop everything and leave. Look, watch out for the house, follow Iris’s car; whom she sees acting strange. From afar he sees that Iris accelerates, even with Amaya’s scare, and they go off the road in a hard accident. Look down to the place to help the girl, who threatens him with a shotgun and shoots him. Luckily, he ends up reducing it.
Reunion
In the novel, Miren is convalescing from the accident—remember, she’s in the backseat—when she summons the Templetons to give them the big news: Kiera is alive and in a hospital room. There he explains them lightly and leads them to the room, although nothing is narrated about their expected reunion.
In the last chapter, Miren is in the hospital to heal the gunshot wound —which turns out to be only superficial—; while Amaya’s parents arrive with the police. There, they see Amaya resting in one of her beds, although they don’t go to see her, because they are told that she can be dangerous as she has such a big impact. They have to wait until the little girl is in a foster home to see her again and see maya the bee with her. The reunion of her is shown, with a last scene in which he does not react to Amaya’s name, but to Julia’s.
The Snow Girl is now available on Netflix.
